I receive emails from a Darfuri who lives in California who is a human rights activist and keeps contact with people in his homeland. This is the text of his email sent this morning at 5:00 a.m.

December 16, 2008

Dear All,

Some of the things going on in Darfur from our dailycontacts:

Internally displaced persons (IDP) camp of Saraf Omra (betweenElFasher and El-Geneina), the Government of Sudan (GoS)through the town Mayor - issued an order of removing the camp(home to about 2,350 IDPs) even by force if necessary.30 of the camp sheiks (tribal leaders) protested bysigning a protest petition to be sent to the state Governor(who is GoS supporter). The move is seen as part of GoS move todismantle the IDP Camps ( the most visible evidence ofGenocide that houses living witnesses).

2- Military jets overflew Zalengie Camps in show offorce and intimidation. (This is following the killingof one of the camp leaders and the rage thatfollowed).

3- Tension is growing among Arab tribes followingmultiple inter-tribal clashes and killings. We spokewith many Arab leaders and leaders in the movementsfrom Arab tribes who almost unanimously blamed the GoSfor having hand in the clashes.

I will keep you posted.

And this email text was received last Friday, December 12,2008:

Dear All,

1- North Darfur: contacts with an Omdah ( local tribeleader), 2 school teachers, and a rebel leader on theground in North Darfur. All witnessed today a GoSmilitary aircraft (Antonove) overflying villages innorth Darfur(North west of Kutum town). The Aircraftkept circulating for more than 3 hours over villagesof: Korbia, Um Marahik, Um Shidig, Door.

Korbia, where there is a Khazan( water reservoir), wasbombed exactly four weeks ago (Friday 11/14/2008). Iwas told that there are still unexploded ordinancefrom last raid.

Today no bombing. Yet it sent villagers to hidings andin mountains. The school teachers told me that theyhave to cancel classes because every one was fleeingfor their lives.

Flying over without bombing is a new terror tacticadopted by GoS lately. I was told some cases ofmiscarriages had occurred during the panic.

2- West Darfur: A woman was ambushed at a water pumpby seven Janjawed, abducted and gang raped. She wentto get water for her family.

Her name is Kaltoum Yahya Suliman, from Khamsa DagaigIDP Camp near Zalengie. She was taken to ZalengieHospital in critical condition where she was stillthere when I spoke with some IDPs this morning.UNAMID can check on her at the Hospital under theabove name.

International Criminal Court

The Prosecutor

"I deeply hope that the horrors humanity has suffered during the 20th century will serve us as a painful lesson, and that the creation of the International Criminal Court will help us to prevent those atrocities from being repeated in the future."

Statement made by Luis Moreno-Ocampo on the occasion of his election as first Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court by the Assembly of States Parties in New York on 22 April 2003.

On 21 April 2003, the Assemby of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, meeting in its second resumed first session, unanimously elected Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina as first Prosecutor of the Court. Between 1984-92, as a Prosecutor in Argentina, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo was involved in precedent-setting prosecutions of top military commanders for mass killings and other large-scale human rights abuses.

He was the Assistant Prosecutor in the “Military Junta” trial against Army commanders accused of masterminding the “dirty war”, and other cases of human rights violations by the Argentine military. Mr. Moreno-Ocampo was the Prosecutor in charge of the extradition from the United States of former Argentine General Carlos Guillermo Suárez Mason, and in the investigation and prosecution of guerrilla leaders and of those responsible for two military rebellions in Argentina. He also took part in the case against Army commanders accused of malpractice during the Malvinas/Falklands war, as well as in dozens of major cases of corruption.

As the first case brought against top commanders responsible for mass killings since the Nuremberg Trial, the 1984-85 “Military Junta” trial involved 9 senior commanders, including 3 former heads of state, from the ranks of Army officials who ruled Argentina between 1976 and 1983. On the recomendation of a report produced by the Truth Commision established in Argentina in 1984, eight months of judicial investigation resulted in the Prosecutors presenting 700 cases of “murder, kidnapping and torture” as a sample of thousands of alleged crimes, calling 835 witnesses and citing thousands of documents. After 6 months of public hearing, on December 8, 1985 a panel of six judges convicted 5 of the accused.

In 1992, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo resigned as Prosecutor of the Federal Criminal Court of Buenos Aires, and established a private law firm, Moreno-Ocampo & Wortman Jofre, which specializes in corruption control programs for large firms and organisations, criminal and human rights law. Until his election as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo worked as lawyer and as Private Inspector General for large companies. He also took on a number of pro bono activities, among others as legal representative for the victims in the extradition of former Nazi officer Erich Priebke to Italy, the trial of the chief of the Chilean secret police for the murder of General Carlos Prats, and several cases concerning political bribery, journalists’ protection and freedom of expression.

Mr. Moreno-Ocampo also worked with various local, regional and international NGO’s. He was the president of Transparency International for Latin America and the Caribbean. He has served as on the global Advisory Board and the Board of Transparency International, a world-wide organisation whose aim is to reduce corruption in business transactions. The founder and president of Poder Ciudadano, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo also served as member of the Advisory Board of the “Project on Justice in times of transition” and “New Tactics on Human Rights.”

Mr. Moreno-Ocampo has been a visiting professor at both Stanford University and Harvard University.

Mr. Moreno-Ocampo has taken office on 16 June 2003 by pledging his solemn undertaking as required by article 45 of the Rome Statute. As Prosecutor, he will assume full authority over the management and administration of the Office, including the staff, facilities and other resources thereof. For a full curriculum vitae of the Prosecutor, please click here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blood and Soul: A World History of Genocide and Exterminationfrom Sparta to Darfur

0 Comments:

Links to this post:

About Me

I love my life. I love where I live. And I am passionate about my passions. I love to dance. Necessary to live: music, piano, singing, writing, acting, painting.
I have been fighting for and supporting the arts all my adult life. Since 2004, I have been working with other activists to end the Darfur genocide.
I have traveled to Europe many times since my early twenties. Places I have been: many USA states including Hawaii, Montreal, Canada, Barbados, France, Spain, Luxembourg, England, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and Germany - and have wonderful memories.
My last trip was in May - June 2013 to Spain.
I would like to travel to Europe and Kyoto, Japan.
I love the southwest where I have visited Hopi, Navajo, Zia and San Idlefonso potters.
Life is exciting and I intend to live it full-out to the end.
B.S. and M.M., both in music

Genocide is not only a word,
it is crying of the whole human race.
There is nothing redeeming about being silent
when speaking up is the humane thing to do.
The honor and integrity of the human race is at stake.

"...And these for whom life has no repose, live at times in their rare moments of happiness with such strength and indescribable beauty, the spray of their moment's happiness is flung so high and dazzingly over the wide sea of suffering, that the light of it, spreading its radiance, touches others too with its enchantment..." Hemann Hesse STEPPENWOLF